Please Welcome Guest Blogger David Haas who is an advocate for cancer patients!
His article: Suriving Cancer is below and be sure to check out his website http://www.blogger.com/profile/08616835462804462281
Surviving cancer- movement matters
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, over 13 million people have been diagnosed between 1999 and 2008 in the US. In 2010, over half a million people died from cancer. As anyone with first-hand experience in battling cancer knows, the struggle goes not only for the physical survival but also for the quality of life. For people affected by cancer, the diagnosis is not limited to the physical state of their body, but has long lasting effects on psychological well-being as well. A better understanding of complexity of coping mechanisms involved in cancer survival has brought attention to fitness and physical exercise as an integral part of survival, improvement of quality of life, and rehabilitation. A growing number of publications have shown positive association between integration of physical activity and rate of survival, psychological well-being, and quality of life among all age groups, ethnicities, and genders.
Benefits of exercise have been documented for patients undergoing chemotherapy and those who completed their treatments. For instance, a 2007 study by Courneya and colleagues showed significant positive effects of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise on self esteem, fitness, muscular strength and completion of chemotherapy in a cohort of 242 breast cancer patients that were initiating chemotherapy. Similar effects of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise were observed in patients that have completed adjuvant therapy.
Two observational studies from 2006 and 2009 showed a 50-63% decrease in total deaths for people diagnosed with colon cancer who chose to engage in recreational physical activity for a total of three hours a week versus a group that stayed inactive.
Preliminary data indicate positive effects of physical activity interventions in adult cancer survivors diagnosed with hematological malignancies and for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In sum, there is mounting evidence that regular, post-diagnosis physical activity can increase survivorship by 50-60%. Positive correlation has been better documented for most frequently occurring cancers, such as prostate, breast, colorectal, kidney and less so for rare cancers like malignant mesothelioma. Currently, mesothelioma treatment includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy using one or a combination of drugs, according to the American Cancer Society. All these treatments, and especially chemotherapy, cause severe side effects like diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, low white blood cells, and nerve damage, neuropathy. These debilitating side effects are not unique to mesothelioma treatment. Several hundreds of clinical research trials in over three decades of exercise science demonstrate ability of properly structured physical activity for managing these side effects and preventing development of secondary diseases. A review of such studies published by Newton and Galvao in Current Treatment Options in Oncology in 2008 states that exercise should be viewed as in integral part of complex therapy used in treatment and management of many cancers. While physical activity alone cannot cure cancer or prevent development of secondary diseases, it can greatly enhance the therapeutic effects of traditional treatments, namely, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
Despite these findings, researchers have found that cancer survivors tend to decrease their physical activity. According to a 2008 study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, the underlying causes of this trend include depression and anxiety experienced after diagnosis and in the course of the treatments and insufficient physical exercise counseling available to survivors during and after their treatment. As the awareness and solid evidence of health benefits conferred by managed exercise programs grows, more cancer survivors will be able to get back increased energy levels, improved immune response to pathogens, increase of bone density, muscle performance, functional capacity, and better quality of life.
His article: Suriving Cancer is below and be sure to check out his website http://www.blogger.com/profile/08616835462804462281
Surviving cancer- movement matters
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, over 13 million people have been diagnosed between 1999 and 2008 in the US. In 2010, over half a million people died from cancer. As anyone with first-hand experience in battling cancer knows, the struggle goes not only for the physical survival but also for the quality of life. For people affected by cancer, the diagnosis is not limited to the physical state of their body, but has long lasting effects on psychological well-being as well. A better understanding of complexity of coping mechanisms involved in cancer survival has brought attention to fitness and physical exercise as an integral part of survival, improvement of quality of life, and rehabilitation. A growing number of publications have shown positive association between integration of physical activity and rate of survival, psychological well-being, and quality of life among all age groups, ethnicities, and genders.
Benefits of exercise have been documented for patients undergoing chemotherapy and those who completed their treatments. For instance, a 2007 study by Courneya and colleagues showed significant positive effects of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise on self esteem, fitness, muscular strength and completion of chemotherapy in a cohort of 242 breast cancer patients that were initiating chemotherapy. Similar effects of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise were observed in patients that have completed adjuvant therapy.
Two observational studies from 2006 and 2009 showed a 50-63% decrease in total deaths for people diagnosed with colon cancer who chose to engage in recreational physical activity for a total of three hours a week versus a group that stayed inactive.
Preliminary data indicate positive effects of physical activity interventions in adult cancer survivors diagnosed with hematological malignancies and for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In sum, there is mounting evidence that regular, post-diagnosis physical activity can increase survivorship by 50-60%. Positive correlation has been better documented for most frequently occurring cancers, such as prostate, breast, colorectal, kidney and less so for rare cancers like malignant mesothelioma. Currently, mesothelioma treatment includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy using one or a combination of drugs, according to the American Cancer Society. All these treatments, and especially chemotherapy, cause severe side effects like diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, low white blood cells, and nerve damage, neuropathy. These debilitating side effects are not unique to mesothelioma treatment. Several hundreds of clinical research trials in over three decades of exercise science demonstrate ability of properly structured physical activity for managing these side effects and preventing development of secondary diseases. A review of such studies published by Newton and Galvao in Current Treatment Options in Oncology in 2008 states that exercise should be viewed as in integral part of complex therapy used in treatment and management of many cancers. While physical activity alone cannot cure cancer or prevent development of secondary diseases, it can greatly enhance the therapeutic effects of traditional treatments, namely, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
Despite these findings, researchers have found that cancer survivors tend to decrease their physical activity. According to a 2008 study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, the underlying causes of this trend include depression and anxiety experienced after diagnosis and in the course of the treatments and insufficient physical exercise counseling available to survivors during and after their treatment. As the awareness and solid evidence of health benefits conferred by managed exercise programs grows, more cancer survivors will be able to get back increased energy levels, improved immune response to pathogens, increase of bone density, muscle performance, functional capacity, and better quality of life.
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